Sarah Palin vs. Marg Delahunty

November 25, 2009

Sarah’s on her book tour, hawking Going Rogue in bookstores across the U.S. She’s getting a lot of attention for her memoir, which was apparently written in an afternoon, by a 21-year-old ghostwriter who’d never met her, while drinking Corona and watching SpongeBob out of the corner of his eye. Well, that’s what I heard.

Among the highlights of the reaction to her book was the Associated Press’s decision to dedicate a team of 11 reporters to the book, picking apart its “facts” and finding mistakes, alterations or historical revisions that prove to opponents that Sarah Palin has no business in politics, no business being a public figure, and no business sticking her nose into Canadian issues.

Wait, let me back up: Sarah was signing books the other day in Columbus, Ohio, when she encountered a Canadian TV journalist. Marg Delahunty had travelled south to quiz Palin — who has hinted at running for president in 2012, possibly with Glenn Beck — but was manhandled away from the signing table and ushered outside by beefy security guards. It turns out Sarah doesn’t answer questions.

The question, as Delahunty reported later: “We told her we’re from Canada, and we’re just looking for a few words of encouragement for the Canadian conservatives who have worked so tirelessly to destroy the socialized medicare that we have.”

Delahunty stuck around, and when she and her crew spotted Palin outside, they went after her.

“Hey, remember us, we’re the Canadians! We came all the way here from Canada!” Delahunty calls in the footage, which aired Tuesday night. “When we asked you that question, we didn’t hear your answer.”

Palin stopped and shared this nugget with Canadian TV watchers: “Canada needs to dismantle its public health-care system and allow private enterprise to get involved and turn a profit.”

Okay, so Sarah favours privatized health care. That’s no surprise. And I am one of those Canadians who treasures our public system, but I also see its flaws, so I would not be averse to exploring change. I’m not going to get into a health-care debate here. I just would rather Sarah Palin kept her nose out of Canadian affairs. We have enough uninformed, stupid conservative politicians of our own to deal with; we don’t need her.

Even if she can see Canada from her house.

When her interview aired Tuesday night on CBC Television’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Delahunty mused aloud, wondering why Palin doesn’t answer questions at her book signings. Here’s why: She isn’t very bright. If you need an example, just consider that she allowed herself to be interviewed by Marg Delahunty, who looks like this:

She’s a comedian, Canada’s Mary Walsh, a bit of a national treasure to some. She’s been playing the super-conservative pundit Delahunty character for a long, long time, dressing up in a version of the Xena, Warrior Princess costume to ambush our public figures with ridiculous questions. Everyone in Canada is in on the joke, and it’s always funny to watch Marg corner the prime minister at some gala and spar with him, the silly questions generating equally silly answers.

I can’t show you the Palin footage, but here’s Marg congratulating our Prime Minister Stephen Harper on winning an election:

Anybody who thinks Steve is a bit of a stiff should watch that clip.

While Marg wore a slightly less ridiculous version of her armour to talk to Sarah Palin, it should have been obvious to everyone around her that this is some sort of comedy … but Sarah didn’t clue in. This isn’t the first time a Canadian has tricked Palin, and I’ll bet you it won’t be the last.

3 comments

Not only does Mary Walsh not understand that her alter ego, Marg Delahunty, has drifted into irrelevance in Canada but it’s not even on the radar in the US. And surely Miss Walsh is aware of how the public health-care system botched hundreds of cancer tests in her home province of Newfoundland. Perhaps she and another bigmouth, Michael Moore (who also couldn’t keep his fat nose out of Canadian affairs) should go bowling.